Wednesday, June 29, 2005

My Memories of Gush Katif

Very moving article in today's JPost remembering Yamit, and comparing Israel's withdrawal from it to the disengagement in Gaza. I remember visiting Gush Katif as a teenager on a summer tour of Israel, and being taken by our tour guide to "kir Yamit", the wall that memorializes the pullout from the community. As he described the evacuation of Yamit, and the dramatic events that unfolded there, it never would have occured to any of us listening that years later, we would be discussing the neighborhoods, beaches and greenhouses we had just visited in the same vein.I remember the Gush Katif leg of the tour as one of the highlights of our trip that summer. The greenhouses were fascinating. The science junkie in me was interested by the hydroponic techniques, the aesthete in me was amazed by the neatly planted rows of plants and vegetables. The beach was beautiful. I can still remember how the temperature of the water was almost as warm as the air, and how gentle the surf was against the whitest sand this New Yorker had ever seen. The white houses with the red roofs and the gardens were immaculate, many having gone up recently, with bikes and toys on the front lawns, as little children roamed from house to house with no need for supervision. It truly seemed an idyllic existence for the settlers who built their lives there.Now, as I read the articles like yesterday's, about the lack of adequate housing for the displaced, and today's, which describes the first settler to dismantle his greenhouses in preparation for the disengagement, I feel for these people who thought that they were home for good.

Disengagement is a PR disaster. I think everyone from both sides can agree with that.

My understanding is that the Israeli government is leaving a vacuum for the Palestinian Authority to fill.

Why bother moving the jews who are there? Why not give them the option to stay.

If I was the Israeli government, I would tell everyone that they can stay at their own risk. It might not be the safest neighborhood, but if the Palestinian state is a free democracy, let the Jews stay. We certainly haven't kicked the arabs out of Israel; why force people to move who are clearly attached to the land that they built.

Personally, I think it would be a bloodbath, but A) It would reiterate to a world that doesn;t give a damn that these are more monster than human and B) It would keep those awful pictures of Israeli on Israeli violence from filling the newscasts every night.